Offshore wind power is the fastest growing source of energy production worldwide. This has been influenced by technological development, the constantly increasing size of turbines and the substantial increase in production volumes.

The area comprising the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia is an ideal area for wind power production. The wind conditions are good and the existing port infrastructure supports the implementation of offshore projects. With the exception of the Quark, the marine areas have few islands. Permanent and holiday homes, as well as nature and landscape values, are centred on the coast and in its vicinity. The shallowness of the marine area is in particular an advantage in the Bay of Bothnia: Current technology already makes it possible to take the construction of offshore wind power quite far out to sea. The Bothnian Sea is deeper than the Bay of Bothnia, and potential offshore wind power areas are on average closer to the coast. The northern Bothnian Sea’s broad economic zone and the outermost parts of the Bay of Bothnia are too deep for seafloor-based wind turbines. Ice conditions during the winter are challenging for the entire planning area.

Wind turbines have been built in the planning in connection with the area’s existing ports and to some extent on artificial islands near the shore. Currently, there is wind power production in Tornio’s Röyttä, Kemi’s Ajos and the Port Raahe’s area. There are no actual offshore areas for wind power. Several areas suitable for the construction of offshore wind turbines have been designated in the regional plans. Wind power master plans made possible by construction have been prepared for the areas of Suurhiekka in Ii and the Maanahkiainen area in Raahe-Pyhäjoki. Several areas are in the preliminary exploration phase. The planned offshore wind power areas have yet to progress to their construction phase.

Maritime transport plays an important role in the Finnish economy and security of supply; 90% of exports and 80% of imports are transported by sea. Maritime transport in the area comprising the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia is a key factor in local industry’s transports, accessibility and competitiveness. Substantial metal, forest and chemical industry activities are located in the provinces of the planning area, and shipping serves their transport needs. There is regular passenger traffic in the Quark between Vaasa and Umea.

From the perspective of shipping, characteristic features of the area include its ice conditions in the winter and the shallowness of the marine area in both the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia. Due to how shallow the coastal waters are, the shipping routes that lead to ports are crucial. The Quark area is of particular importance with regard to the accessibility of the Bay of Bothnia. The area’s ports and their associated shipping routes are actively maintained and developed, for example with dredging. Development projects aim to improve the operating and development conditions of ports and to facilitate the implementation of new activities based on ports. Dredging is a prerequisite for shipping, but dredging and the disposal of accumulated masses also have an impact on the environment.

There are several important ports located in the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia, of which six are part of the Trans-European Transport Network’s (TEN-T) and are thus internationally important ports: Kemi, Oulu, Raahe, Kokkola, Pietarsaari and Kaskinen. Other significant ports are located in Tornio, Kalajoki and Pietarsaari. Most of the ports are universal ports for freight transport, while some of the ports focus on serving a certain industrial plant. The area’s only passenger and cargo port is located in Vaasa in the Quark. The Port of Kokkola is Finland’s third largest universal port after Port of KotkaHamina and the Port of Helsinki. Ports are intersections for the transport of people and goods, and a large amount of industrial activities related to the port are located in the port area.

In the planning area regular marine transport consists of ferry traffic between Vaasa and Umea. The ferry carries both passengers and cargo. Ferry traffic related to the archipelago’s transport options has been established between Oulu and Hailuoto and in Ostrobothnia between Kaskinen-Eskilsö and Moikipää (Korsnäs) – Bergö (Maalahti). A fixed connection between Oulu and Hailuoto is currently in the planning stages, and this will replace the current ferry traffic when it is completed.

Professional and recreational fishing are both very common in the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia. Around 200 commercial fishermen operate in the planning area (Group I, there are 1,200 Group II fishermen). In practice, all coastal waters and the Quark archipelago are suitable areas for fishing. In the Bay of Bothnia, commercial fishing is characteristically practiced in coastal waters. Sea trawling is also carried out in the Bothnian Sea. The area has some farming of fish intended for human consumption as well as fish processing companies. The area’s network of fishing ports is comprehensive and makes it possible to engage in fishing activities.

The aim of the fishing sector is to develop coastal fishing and the fisheries sector and to increase demand for fish. Key development measures in the sector include the development of coastal fishing and the use of fishing ports, improving the quality of fish, improving competence and the recruitment of new fishermen, as well as increasing marketing, networking and cooperation. The main challenge faced by the sector is the number of full-time fishermen, which has fallen sharply in the long term.

Professional fishing is versatile in the planning area. The most important forms of fishing are anchored gillnet fishing and trap fishing. Herring trawling is practised especially in the northern Bothnian Sea. In the Bay of Bothnia, trawling is used especially to fish for vendace. Fishing waters are managed with extensive fish stocking. The compensatory stocking determined for the Kemijoki, Iijoki and Oulujoki rivers is of great importance to fishing. In addition to compensatory stocking the area’s fisheries actors carry out voluntary management of the fish waters.

The objective of the National Aquaculture Strategy 2022 is to increase fish farming in Finland. Currently (average for 2013-2017), fish farming has been divided in the Finnish marine areas so that 78% is located in the Archipelago Sea and the southern Bothnian Sea. 12% of fish farming is located in the Gulf of Finland and 10% in the area comprising the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia. According to the Government’s National Aquaculture Strategy, new production will be divided into areas where the ecological status of the water area is good. Current production would remain in place.

In the short term, the status of waters may prove to be an obstacle for the development of fish farming; according to the most recent classification of coastal waters in the area comprising the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia, the status of the waters has deteriorated, and there are only areas of water that are classified being good in the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia. Eutrophication problems caused by fish farming could be reduced by placing production facilities on the open sea, but Finland’s ice conditions and the sharpness of waves prevent year-round production based on modern technology.

Existing fish farms in the northern Bothnian Sea and the Bay of Bothnia are currently located in Northern Ostrobothnia’s Ii and in Ostrobothnia’s Kaskinen and Kristiinankaupunki. Farming activities are being launched in Oulu, and there are also plans in place to start farming in other areas. Professional fishing and fish farms can partly use the same port and other infrastructure.

The fishery areas began operating in 2019, and they are tasked with planning the sustainable use and management of fish stocks and they will prepare a usage and management plan by the end of 2021. Each fishery area is responsible for implementing the plan and monitoring its impacts.

The nature, cultural environments and landscapes in the archipelago and coastal areas are important factors in the development of maritime tourism. Numerous tourist destinations are located in the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia, and their attractiveness is based in part on the vicinity of the sea. The planning area’s most significant archipelago is in the Quark, the attractiveness of which is increased by the status of the area as a World Heritage Site. In other parts of the planning area, tourism is centred on the coast, but the islands also are also important destinations. Special characteristics include winter and the sea’s ice cover, which provide opportunities for developing unique winter tourism.

There are a great deal of recreational dwellings and holiday cottages in the planning area. Boating and other recreational use of the marine area is practised everywhere along the coast and in the archipelago. Islands, nature conservation areas and other sites are of great importance to nature-based tourism and recreational activities. Recreational fishing and hunting are also important Finnish pastimes in the marine area. The popularity of fishing tourism is increasing. Two significant salmon rivers, Tornionjoki and Simojoki, are located in the planning area. The Gulf of Bothnia and, in particular, the Bay of Bothnia are the most important seal hunting areas in the Baltic Sea, for which reason the hunting culture has remained the longest here. The opportunities for recreational fishing and hunting for their part contribute to a vibrant and prosperous archipelago culture.

Finland’s coastal areas are one of the country’s national thematic areas for tourism. In the planning area, the tourism sector has launched extensive development cooperation in the coastal area from Vaasa to Tornio and Haaparanta. The aim is to develop the attractiveness of the “arctic-like sea” and the coastal area as a sea-oriented destination, the area’s related service business and cooperation between different actors and regions. Specialisation would provide the area with opportunities for developing and profiling its tourism. Currently, nature tourism in particular is largely tied to the summer season, and it should be developed so that services are provided year-round.

Important tourism areas in Lapland include Kemi’s and Tornio’s costal region and Bothnian Bay National Park, which is the only national park in the planning area. The most important areas for tourism and recreational use In Northern Ostrobothnia are located on the coast (Kalajoki, Oulu and Liminka), but the islands (e.g. Raahe Archipelago and Hailuoto) are also important for tourism. In Kalajoki’s marine area, Rahja Archipelago and Maakalla Island are important destinations. The Liminka Bay Visitor Centre located in Liminka is Finland’s Ramsar wetland centre. In Central Ostrobothnia, the Tankar lighthouse island is an important destination and archipelago tours are a popular tourist experience, in addition to which the coastline and archipelago offer diverse opportunities for different nature activities. In Ostrobothnia, the world heritage site High Coast – the Quark Archipelago as well as lighthouse and sea pilot communities are the most important destinations for tourism.

Marine cultural heritage is tangible and intangible cultural heritage both above-ground and underwater, which is linked to man’s relationship with the sea and the resources found in the past by a community.

Maritime cultural heritage includes both concrete traces in the landscape and skills, customs and habits related to the marine landscape, such as practices, knowledge, stories and beliefs. These have been passed on from generation to generation helping to present, build and maintain the identities of different communities.

Marine cultural heritage is traces left by humans and elements produced by interaction between humans and nature in a marine environment. Marine cultural heritage is limited to the terrestrial and semi-waterborne areas of the coast, the archipelago and the outer sea, and is visible as the underwater landscape.

Marine cultural heritage is linked, among other things, to the settlement of the coast and the archipelago, maritime transport, fishing and other marine hunting culture, diving, and customs and beliefs that have linked humans to the marine environment.

In the planning area, cultural values related to the sea are linked to fishing, seal hunting, maritime transport and it lighthouse islands, agriculture in the archipelago as well as the boat building and other industry on the coast. Several landscapes of national value are located in the planning area, as are numerous significant buildings representing the maritime cultural heritage, such as lighthouses, pilot stations and fishing communities. The Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site is an important environment for both natural and cultural heritage. Hailuoto is a unique cultural environment of its own.

There is no comprehensive information on the locations of offshore antiquities in the area comprising the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia. The most common type of discoveries related to cultural heritage found underwater are ship wrecks. Few inventories have been carried out, and it can be assumed that there are still many wrecks and other underwater cultural heritage site that have not yet been found in the area.

The shallow coastline, the extensive archipelago off the shore, and the coastline, which is constantly moving and changing due to land uplift (almost a metre every one hundred years), are characteristic environmental factors of the Gulf of Bothnia’s coast that affect the marine cultural environment. Marine heritage can be found both in the region’s highest areas and on the seafloor.

The situational picture of Finnish marine cultural heritage 2019 (link) prepared by the Finnish Heritage Agency has been used to support the construction and planning of the situational picture of regional cultural heritage.

The maritime industry consists of equipment manufacturers, turnkey suppliers, design agencies, software and system suppliers as well as shipbuilding, repair and offshore shipyards. The area comprising the northern Bothnian Sea, the Quark and the Bay of Bothnia is the location of some maritime industry and business related to a larger maritime cluster, for example in the Vaasa and Oulu areas. Vaasa is the location of the offices of some significant maritime system manufacturers, and their related subcontractors and shipping and port operations. The Kokkola-Pietarsaari region has an established boat building industry. The Oulu maritime cluster specialises in port operations. The situational picture for the planning area’s blue economy (2018) highlighted the area’s diverse metal industry as a strength related to the maritime industry.

The competitiveness of the maritime industry can be strengthened through support for digitalisation, innovation and research. It is possible to support this development during the use of marine areas, for example by creating offshore testing areas for new technology. From the perspective of offshore activities, such as wind power production and aquaculture, the planning area’s special features are challenging offshore conditions, including its ice cover during winter. The conditions in the region may be an incentive factor for the creation of specialised innovations. There may also be international demand for such expertise.

The seabed sediments in Finnish marine areas are, geologically speaking, very young. In practice, all sea sand and gravel reserves were formed at the end of the last Ice Age or after that over the past 13,000 years. The recoverable reserves are mainly located in the subsea extensions of the ridges and terminal moraine bodies created when the glacier melted. To a lesser extent, recoverable minerals can be found in other moraine or erosion-caused sand sediments.

The area’s iron manganese deposits are the most interesting seafloor reserves. These have been studied from the 1960s due to their iron, manganese, phosphorus and earth metal reserves. Iron manganese sediments are found in nearly all of Finland’s marine areas. The possibilities for utilising phosphorus bound to the seafloor have also been considered in recent years.

While sea sand and gravel extraction has thus far been of a small scale in Finland, the need to exploit seafloor reserves is expected to grow as the availability of on-land gravel and sand resources declines, especially in the vicinity of growth centres. According to estimates produced in a background report produced by the Geological Survey of Finland, there are be approximately 2-3 billion m3 of sand and gravel in Finland’s marine areas, which is equal to approximately the amount of aggregates used in Finland over a period of 50 years. The estimate is based on the surface area of the surveyed sand and gravel deposits and a sediment thickness of five metres. However, efforts are being made to continuously reduce the use of virgin aggregates, and to transition increasingly to a circular economy in aggregate management.

There has been interest in the extraction of sea sand in the Bay of Bothnia. In Northern Ostrobothnia, the extraction of sea sand was studied in 2007-2010. However, the projects have not been implemented, and no significant exploitation of sea sand or other extraction activities are currently carried out in the planning area. Sea sand extraction activities are often related to large individual projects and also require functional transport logistics including processing terminals as ports of reception and extensive storage areas.

Blue biotechnology is a new sector, which from the perspective of the marine area’s use, refers to biomasses produced and harvested at sea and their production potential. In Finland, biomass potential has mainly been identified for common reed in lakes and less valuable fish. Growing algae in Finnish conditions is challenging due to the small amount of light and cold temperatures. Cultivation potential could be found in various waters containing waste heat and nutrients, which are formed for example by the pulp industry and in wastewaters. The low salinity and poor temperature conditions of Finland’s waters are a challenge in the cultivation of shellfish compared to other areas in the Baltic Sea. The potential for processing specialised products lies especially in the side-streams of the fisheries industry

The special needs of national defence have been identified and taken into account in EU legislation in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and in Finland’s national legislation in the Land Use and Building Act. Under the Land Use and Building Act, the needs of national defence must be secured and taken into account in land use planning and maritime spatial planning.

The Finnish Defence Forces carry out air and maritime surveillance in accordance with the Act on the Defence Forces (551/2007) and the Territorial Surveillance Act (755/2000) in all of Finland’s national territory and in its vicinity. National defence requires an active approach from the National Defence Forces in marine areas meaning comprehensive surveillance of air and sea. The Gulf of Finland and the southern parts of the Archipelago Sea are very important areas for Finland’s overall defence.

The implementation of the statutory tasks of the Finnish Defence Forces limits the other use of marine areas in some areas to the nature, location and timing of the activities. Finland’s marine areas include secured areas (18), shooting and training areas as well as their associated hazard and restriction areas. From the point of view of national defence, the usability of fairways, the needs of management systems under normal conditions and the underwater structures of the Defence Forces also play a key role. In addition, there may still be naval mines and other munitions during originating from the time Finland was at war and harmful substances from various activities in Finnish marine areas. These should be taken into account and examined on a case-by-case basis in more detailed planning.